Curbing social media usage among children: Views from Asia

Australia's proposed ban on social media usage by children under 16—which would be a world first—is likely to be studied by other countries that are also combating a rise in screen addiction among the youth. The Sunday Times looks at the experiences of five countries in Asia with social media, and the steps they have taken or are exploring to protect children.

- CHINA

When it comes to managing the activities of children online, China is considered by some nations to be a role model with its approach, akin to keeping children on a strict diet.

In 2023, the country—which has the most internet users in the world at nearly 1.1 billion by the first half of 2024—announced plans to limit the amount of time minors spend online on their smartphones to no more than two hours a day.

It was but the latest in a series of moves to protect the young from harms caused by internet and video game addiction.

In 2019, Beijing capped children's daily online game time on weekdays at 90 minutes and banned them from playing between 10 pm and 8 am. This playtime was reduced in 2021 to just an hour per day on Fridays, weekends, and holidays.

New rules continue to be rolled out. On Nov 15, 2024, the country's cyber watchdog launched guidelines clarifying the "minor mode" features that it had mandated companies to implement since January.

Apart from capping screen time for most internet services to between one and two hours, the "minor mode" features should also prevent youngsters from using their mobile gadgets between 10 pm and 6 am.

Notably, parents have the freedom to deactivate the features or exempt their children from some of its requirements.

Video and live-streaming apps in China have similar anti-addiction systems. Douyin, the Chinese equivalent of TikTok, has limited users below the age of 14 to 40 minutes a day on the app.

The moves mirror growing concerns about internet addiction among the young.

An estimated 193 million pupils and students in China below the age of 18 were on the internet in 2022, according to the latest government figures. They make up 97.2 per cent of the country's youth, excluding those who are not in school and aged below six.